King of Debt Vol. #01

What They SayTaketora, The King of Debt, is notorious for borrowing money--money that he never pays back. He and Souta have been friends since college and Souta just can't bring himself to cut off his freeloading friend. But when Souta suddenly loses his job, the only one he can turn to is The King of Debt himself. Only the pieces of Taketora don't quite add up. It turns out he lives in a luxury apartment complex, drives an exotic car, and wears designer suits?! So why is he borrowing money from Souta, and why is he so intent on paying back his debt with his body?

From Sanae Rokuya, creator of Not for Sale and Red, comes a collection of intertwined short stories. From a teddy bear that mysteriously comes to life and comforts his owner, to a rising boxing star, this volume has a little something for everyone.

The ReviewIn the boy's love universe, it's all right to be screwed over by your freeloading friend as long as he pays you back with his body.

Packaging:Just when you think you haven't seen a stereotypical 18+ boy's love cover in quite some time, you see some gorgeous ox of a man lifting a guy over his shoulders like a bag of potatoes. Clearly, the ox is the seme, while the much smaller, skinnier, blushing kid is the uke. Ah, the wonders of boy's love smut, where the semes are built like trees and the ukes blush more than a girl whose shirt snapped open in public. Though this cover does stand out quite a bit with the suitcase full of money, the red background, and the seme is wearing a shirt that reminds me of those tacky tourists shirts (you know the ones, they have random animals and colors all over them). The back cover is all white with the two guys holding onto the suitcase full of money, the uke appearing to try and take the suitcase away from the seme, an angry look on his face.

Once you remove the plastic wrap (and believe me, this title definitely deserves to have it) you'll be treated to a rather enticing color insert of the two main characters of "VS."

Artwork:Hot semes. Shy ukes. Lots and lots of sex. The artwork in this manga takes me back to the days when boy's love was a completely new genre and anything that remotely resembled two guys having sex was something to drool over. There's is a lot of variety in the characters that Sanae Rokuya illustrates. Large men, small men, narrowed eyes, large eyes, each character and each couple has their own distinctive features. All of the focus is on the characters, especially the sex, and any backgrounds are practically non-existent, reduced to small panels for the occasional house or car speeding down the highway.

Text/SFX:Everything is translated into English. There are no Japanese honorifics and all of the sound effects in kanji have English translations them. The stories predominately have a first person POV, but occasionally there's a story with no inner monologue and we get to see the perspective of both seme and uke through dialogue.

Contents: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)King of Debt 1 & 2Sanae Rokuya's collection starts off with the title story. Souta and Taketora have been friends for a while, and as far back as he can remember Souta has loaned Taketora money that has yet to be paid back. When Souta falls on hard times he decides to ask Taketora for the money back, and to his surprise he sees that his friend is actually rather successful! Despite his rising success Taketora would rather pay Souta back with sex which, of course, reveals some hidden feelings that Souta has for him. The second part of the story takes a more serious turn. Taketora wants Souta to move in with him, but Souta is too proud of a person to let anyone take care of him.

RushShinpachi Nakamura is a brash, up and coming boxer who thinks he's hot stuff... until he meets Tsugihiro Fujieda. Tsugihiro is a former pro boxer who lost his boxing license 6 months ago due to taking a hit in the eye. As Shinpachi starts to train to become a pro boxer, Tsugihiro starts to take a more personal interest in the young man.

My Dear, My BearProbably the oddest story in the bunch, Minori has been living alone ever since his brother--the last family member he has left--took off, only leaving a note behind. Ever since then he's been sleeping with a teddy bear, but imagine his surprise when he wakes up one morning to see a handsome man in his teddy bear's place! Could this really be... his teddy bear?!

Call My NameWhile all the other stories have simple plots that lead straight to the bedroom, this one actually has a rather engaging plot and was my favorite. In high school, Yanase was in love with his classmate, Natsume, but Natsume was quick to break his heart and call him disgusting for falling in love with a boy. Now, years later, the two meet again, and Yanase is more than a little surprised when Natsume starts molesting him in the taxicab they take home, especially when he still seems to think that gay people are disgusting.

VSNatsuki is the number one host at the club he works at, but things take a turn when a new kid named Ryuuji comes in and proclaims that he will be number one in just a month. As Ryuuji becomes more and more popular with their customers, it looks like he might actually succeed in taking Natsuki's spot. It's a fierce competition between two gorgeous men which can only lead to one thing in the boy's love genre: hot and heavy foreplay behind closed doors.

Extra MangaThe extra manga ties in all of the characters from all of the stories, having them all meet one way or another.

CommentsSometimes, its nice to grab something where every chapter is guaranteed to begin and/or end with two guys in bed, or against the wall, or in the backseat of a car. This collection of stories satisfies that need: the sex is hot, the men are gorgeous, and every chapter does indeed end with two guys panting and screaming. The only problem I have with the manga is this: if you're going to go for the easy plot devices to get two guys into bed, don't start to build up the plot then suddenly end it with quick love confessions or rambled explanations for the character's motives.

The part of me that likes to read a good story was disappointed, because in all of these short tales a plot was built up, then cut short to get to "the good stuff." Just when the plot would get interesting, everything would be wrapped up in a page or so, then everyone would live sexily ever after. Don't get me wrong, the boy's love fangirl in me absolutely loved this book for its hot sex scenes. This is one of those books to add to your collection for the drool-worthy men who find themselves in bed together. If you're looking for a good plot this isn't the book to pick up, not because the stories are boring, but because they are resolved too easily.